Sailboats

Question: What do you get when you cross toy sailboats and a toilet?  

Answer: A $99 plumbing bill and a toy in the garbage.

Snow Day

We were so lucky and got a bunch of snow on Christmas this year!  We couldn't wait to get out and play in it!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day started bright and early at our house.  But not too early that Santa didn't have time to drop off a few gifts!  

 The kids all slept in the boys room this year and lined up on the stairs for a quick picture before heading up the stairs (age order of course!)

 We take our Christmas morning slow and easy.  I love to see what each of the kids got for each other, so we open sibling gifts first.  This is super fun for them to give gifts to their brother or sister and for them to feel grateful to each other too.  Love this part of the morning!  

 The rest of the gifts are opened one at a time, although there is some complaining that it's not going fast enough.  But for me, it's worth it so we can all see what everyone opens and their excitement!  Some of the biggest hits this year? A Golden State jersey for Liev, a rock tumbler for Keen, art stuff for Rhen,  a tiny arcade game for Beck, a set of cars of Desh and new roller blades for Rease.  I got the most amazing hand drawn picture from Andy and Kristi that captures our family perfectly!  I teared up when I saw it because it is so priceless.  And Josh and the boys all got mega nerf guns that will come in handy this week for some nerf gun battles!  Overall, an amazing morning together and so much fun to have so many people we love with us too.

 After breakfast and a quick pick up, we got busy playing with our new toys.  Uncle Greg was all in with the kids and did everything they wanted to do.  Play-Doh, new card came, Mancala, basketball, whatever it was he was part of it.  We loved having him with us!  Josh and I, unknowingly, got each other Ninja Suits for skiing and had to show them off together!

We love the family and friends that spent their holiday with us and are so grateful for the memories that we made!  Most of all, we are grateful to celebrate for the birth of our Savior who loved us and gave us His life.  May we continue to remember throughout the year.  

Christmas Eve

Christmas is finally here!  The kids have been counting down for weeks and weeks and I wonder if they ever thought it would get here.  But here it is and one of our favorite people came to spend the holiday with us.  Uncle Greg came to town and we were lucky enough to have him for Christmas Eve and on!  Keen attached himself to Greg's hip and everyone was happy.  We also had my mom and dad and Andy and Kristi stay over with us so we had the best houseful for the holiday!!

 Christmas Eve for us is all about yummy food, reading the nativity story and caroling.  Caroling is a Beutler tradition that Josh says is one of his favorite memories of Christmas.  We have taken that into our family too and we all love it.  This year we graduated from fake candles to the real thing - and it was a hit!  The kids LOVED having their candle lit and keeping it lit while we sang.  This is by far our favorite thing every Christmas Eve.

 After caroling, pjs and off to bed to wait for Santa.

These darling stockings (all made by Aunt Hayley) were hung by the chimney with care - even our visitors added theirs to the mix!

Letters to Santa

Christmas Cards

Christmas Sing-Along

Butterfield Canyon Elementary does a Christmas Sing-Along every year.  Rease's teacher sent some pictures of their class and grade doing their songs for the school.  Love these things that the kids get to do!

Christmas Art

I love all the art projects my kids do at school and they have come home with some darling ones for Christmas this year!  Love their talent!

Christmas Trains

I helped in Liev's class for his Christmas Party and we had the best time making Christmas Trains.  He did a great job with his and loved eating it afterward even more!

Funny Faces

My kids all love seeing themselves on camera so we take full advantage of that whenever we can - today we made funny faces and laughed at each other!

Braces

At long last...Rease got her braces on!  She has been counting down the days and was so excited to be able to get started.  We stopped and got a treat that she would not be able to eat for a while and she downed the whole box before we got there!  But now it's official and she looks so cute as a brace face!

Sunrise

We some some amazing sunrises from our kitchen window and this morning was one of the best ever.  Those colors!  Wow!

Watching Santa

We have a Santa that climbs up and down his ladder next to our tree and Desh is mesmerized by it.  He just stands and watches and can't take his eyes off it.  I'm sure to him it is pretty magical...

Bed head

My kids wake up with some amazing bed head.  Desh had a good one this morning - and a cute little face to go along with it!

Bucket List

I'm sure Rease got her list-making skills from me...sorry about that.  I found this cute list on her floor today and couldn't help but take a picture of it.  Maybe she means "to-do" list instead of "bucket list"? Regardless, I'm proud of this list-making girl of mine!

Rease's Project

Rease has been working on a crocheting project for a friend of hers at school.  She has a friend Hayden and decided a while ago that she wanted to make him something to say thanks for being a good friend to her.  She has been working hard to get this "H" to look just right so she can give it to him.  I'd say she nailed it!  She wrapped it up and took it over to his house with a note on it.  She is the kindest, most thoughtful girl and I think this Hayden is lucky to have her as a friend.

Static Hair

Josh gave Beck the best static hair today!

Errands

Rhen tagged along with dad today when he went out to get some errands done.  Two of the most important ones...food and protein shakes!

We are officially ready for the holidays now!

Cereal Mess

Don't you love when a whole bowl of cereal gets spilled on the carpet?  These boys seem to think it's a pretty good thing...

Piano Recital

The kids had their Christmas piano recital and all did a great job!  Liev just started taking piano lessons in September and has made so much progress since then.  This was his first recital and he was a little nervous but did a great job.  He played Up on the Housetop.  The girls played a duet of Carol of the Bells.  So proud of these kids and their hard work is really paying off!

Snow

We've gotten a few good, early snow storms this year so far and I hope this means that we have a lot more coming!  We could use a good snow year not only for winter skiing but to fill up our reservoirs for summer skiing too!

Marble run

My kids are masters at creating an awesome marble run.  We pull this out once in a while and let the kids use their big imaginations to create what they can.  Today was especially awesome and even Desh couldn't get enough of watching the marbles go through the whole thing over and over and over.  Good job everyone!

Pancakes

I was gone for a run early this morning and got a picture from Josh and the kids of a special breakfast waiting for me at home.  My kids are all about "special breakfasts" which means anything other than cereal or toast.  Dad is usually always the one talked into making it and today I was happy to come home to yummy pancakes!

Visiting Dad

Once in a while we pop in and see Josh at his office during the day.  Most of the time when we get there he is in a meeting or doing something around the office, so the best way to summon him is to send a funny picture to let him know where we're at!  We love seeing our dad in the middle of the day.  It's a treat for us!

Out to Lunch

Rease had a dental appointment today so before I took her back to school we stopped for a quick bite at the closest In-N-Out.  Love these kiddos and their cute smiling faces!

Basketball Game

Our team (The Warriors) played tonight and the boys each got their blankets and pillows and found a good seat to settle in and watch the game with us.  

Crackers

Desh found a package of crackers and then found the most comfy spot in the house to settle down and take care of the whole package himself.  

Shoveling

Last night we got a good little storm that came through and dropped a few inches of snow on the ground.  Josh left for meetings early today so Liev took it on himself as the "man of the house" to get the shoveling done before we left for church.  He's such a good boy and loves being the oldest boy and therefore the boy with the most responsibility.  It was hard work but he did it!

Running Friends

I have a small group of friends that I have been running with for the past couple of years.  Shelley and I run together 2-3 times a week and I have loved having a great, reliable friend to run, laugh, cry and share a great friendship with.  She is one of the very best!  And this man Wan is the best runner I have ever met and had the chance to run with.  He is an ultra-runner at its finest and running 30-40 miles at a time is the norm for him.  Today he ran his annual 50 mile temple-temple run and asked Shelley and I if we could join him for part of it.  We felt very privileged to be his partners for the first 10 miles.  It was a cold, crisp, beautiful morning for a run!